Bison rubbing on cameras

Several of you have noticed images where it's pretty clear that the bison are jostling the camera in some way. There is often a piece of bison (horn, side, tail, etc) in one of the frames, or other bison nearby minding their own business. However, the whole FRAME shifts rather than the animals moving! It turns out that the wooden 4x4 posts that the cameras are on are the perfect height and texture for an itchy bison working on shedding off its winter coat! Thought you all might enjoy this picture from one of our interns last summer or a bison up close and personal with one of the camera posts!

Citizen scientist SEPGator had a great question: "Ever consider putting up equivalent cameraless scratching posts?" The answer is yes! We have lots of non-camerafied well-loved scratchers in the bison area, including the feeding platforms for our woodpecker project, hundreds of wood and metal fence posts for other experiments and the enclosure itself, plus nature's scratching posts: the trees! They use them all. Here are a couple of pictures of the fur left behind on the trees!

Our 2019 bison herd will be at Cedar Creek in late May, with open hours at our viewing gazebo taking place on Saturdays from 10am - 2pm beginning June 1st! Come visit! Keep an eye on the reserve's facebook page and bison webpage for updates.